Even after more than 1,400 arrests and violent clashes with law enforcement, Turkey remains in the streets for the mayor of Istanbul, who was arrested on corruption charges and suspended from office, despite the recently imposed ban on political demonstrations. The trial against the mayor from the progressive opposition party CHP, a rival of President Erdogan’s Islamist AKP party, has been considered by many as “unlawful.”

“Unauthorized actions are taking place in our province, and those participating resort to violence; there is a security threat, and public property has been damaged,” reads the statement from the prefecture, which bans marches, sit-ins, and other mobilization initiatives “until 11:59 PM on Tuesday, April 1.”

“As of today, exactly 1,418 suspects have been arrested in what the Ankara government considers illegal demonstrations held since March 19, 2025,” wrote Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya on X.

Political opponents, protesters, and journalists are increasingly targeted by repression, in what is beginning to show all the signs of a dictatorship. Restrictions have also been announced in other cities like Istanbul and Izmir (Smyrna), but the protesters continue to defy them in response to the arrest of Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of the city on the Bosphorus, who has been “temporarily suspended” from office and is the main political rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Ozgur Ozel, visited him in the high-security prison of Silivri, west of Istanbul, where he has been transferred. Updates on the mayor’s condition, who has now spent his second night in prison, are expected from him. Tonight, he once again calls for a final CHP rally in front of the Istanbul city hall, where the party will appoint a council member to replace Imamoglu.

“The opposition’s spectacle will end sooner or later, and they will be ashamed of the damage they have caused to the country,” Erdogan declared, convinced that “this movement has turned into pure violence.” “Those who instigated this chaos will be held accountable,” he said in a televised speech.